No More WAR

(Update: Ronan also has a good Iraq piece over at BCC as does Dan over at the Good Democrat). Russell Arben Fox, has an excellent post over at Times and Seasons about the fourth anniversary of the Iraq war. For those who visit the Messenger and Advocate; but, don’t venture out much into the rest of the bloggernacle, please do visit and comment on Russell’s post. He beat me to the punch about posting on this anniversary; but, it was something I was going to do here anyway. I do so, if for no other reason to continue to express my unqualified opposition to what I consider to be an ill-conceived, mis-managed, immoral and illegal war of preemption waged in my name by my country, almost universally against the better wisdom and wishes of most other countries (including our own allies) in the world.

The cost of this war has been too great, compared with and contrasted with its worth. In monetary terms the consensus is that the war has already cost some $400 billion, and could climb to over $1 trillion. These are simply obscene figures, given what amount of true homeland security that money could have provided to America both at home and abroad.

We certainly are not safer here at home because we have wasted some $400 billion in Iraq. In fact, this little foray has likely made us less safe at home. As the evidence suggests we have spawned an entire new generation of Islamic terrorists. Rather than bring “democracy” at the point of a gun to the Middle East, we have created more instability by leaving Iraq in a civil war, and have further endangered ourselves here at home. Recent reports reflect that America’s Army is in what some call a “death spiral” as a result of George Bush’s misuse of our Armed Forces.

The human cost is simply, well incalculable. Certainly we can count with accuracy America’s dead, and those of her few allies. And, we can estimate the amount of Iraqi dead; but, we can never bring those people back. Families on all sides of this war have been forever changed and in some cases destroyed. Fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, aunts, uncles, are gone forever, and will be missed. Thousands and thousands of others have been physically and spiritually injured beyond repair. Yet, what do we have to show for all this human sacrifice? Rather than the mission accomplished democratic seeds of the Middle East, we have civil war raging in Iraq, and the literal trashing of democracy at home.

I’m certain that very few in March 2003 thought we would be where we are now in Iraq. In fact, our government promised us four years ago that we would be greeted as liberators:

Now, I think things have gotten so bad inside Iraq, from the standpoint of the Iraqi people, my belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators. And the president’s made it very clear that our purpose there is, if we are forced to do this, will in fact be to stand up a government that’s representative of the Iraqi people, hopefully democratic due respect for human rights, and it, obviously, involves a major commitment by the United States, but we think it’s a commitment worth making. And we don’t have the option anymore of simply laying back and hoping that events in Iraq will not constitute a threat to the U.S. Clearly, 12 years after the Gulf War, we’re back in a situation where he does constitute a threat.

Virtually nothing American’s were promised or told by its government in the run-up to this war was true or accurate. There is nothing to suggest or support the current dire predictions that if we leave Iraq that the entire Middle East will fall apart, and that we will begin fighting terrorists on “Main Street” here at home.

As we begin the fifth year of this endeavor , it is time for Congress to exercise their constitutional duty and bring this war to an end. The cost has far exceeded its worth. It is time to support and protect our troops by bringing them home. They accomplished their initial mission of toppling a dictator, who now lies buried in his hometown. Our armed services performed admirably given the circumstances in which they were placed.

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16 Responses to “No More WAR”

Your analysis is myopic at best. Ask the Kurds or the Shi’a in the south of Iraq whether or not we were liberators. Even the Shi’a in the conflict zones perceived our invasion as a liberation from an opressive dictator. The problem that arose is that the Shi’a expected to be free to exact revenge with impunity on their Sunni bretheren. When the governing coallition forces refused to permit such behavior we became the enemy along with the Sunni (who already hated us for raining on their parade). I think the only mistake advocates of the Iraq war, me being one of them, made was assuming that Iraqies would value their quallity of life greater than their ability to take revenge.

That’s generally how a war ends, one of the two parties decides to stop fighting. Unless you’re talking about straight out genocide, you just want to win, not exterminate your opponent. But what does that have to do with your prior statement that seemed to say that freedom and peace cannot be achieved through violence and war?

Thanks for stopping by and for your thoughts. I’m very sorry to hear your brother is having to return to Iraq. I pray he will be as safe as one can be over there. I share your anger–though I can’t imagine how I would personally feel if I had a family member (as you do) in harm’s way over there.

While I abhor this war in every way, I hope, that if you stop back over here, you will please convey my personal thanks to your brother for his service to our country. He and all members of our armed services are heroes in my mind. At the same time, I hold, and certainly hope God will hold America’s leaders who led us into this war accountable for their evil endeavor.

The illegal, unjust invasion of Iraq is one of the greatest immoralities committed by America. We invaded a country that hadn’t threatened us in anyway, had no involvement with 9/11, and we knew it didn’t have the capacity to be a security risk to us as we had them in lockdown ever since Desert Storm.

It was obvious from the beginning and it didn’t take any great moral prescience to understand that. There were literally millions of people in America outraged by the invasion, and from the beginning those few moral patriots were labeled as ‘treasonous,’ by most Americans and most Mormons.

The church failed in its moral leadership. There was none. The killing was condoned from the beginning. The ‘shock and awe’ that killed thousands of innocent Iraqis should have been met with our own weeping and wailing, but Americans and Mormons were cheering and praising our warmongering leadership.

The War in Iraq is a sad commentary on lack of real moral leadership in the Mormon Church.

Hindsight isn’t for prophets. Foresight is what prophecy is all about.

When we needed moral leadership it wasn’t there.

Also, there has been no outcry by Mormon leaders about our own war crimes, the torturing, the rendition, and illegal spying on American citizens.

These issues, the greatest moral issues of our time, have been met with silence.

Instead, what we have seen is a continuous animosity toward Rocky Anderson, who is emerging as the true moral leader in Utah, the only public official who is saying the truth about the wanton death and destruction we have visited on the tens of thousands innocent Iraqi citizens. He is continually greeted with disdain and publicly mocked by Mormons, which is no credit to the church and its members.

When will we face our moral responsibility? How will we seek repentance when we can’t even recognize our sins?

America is in the process of losing its soul, and the only way it can be redeemed is through recognition of our sins, repentance, and reparations.

That is the farthest thing from our minds. America is too proud to humbly admit our own sins.

We blow the arms and legs of little kids and don’t see the crime. We kill their parents and leave them as orphans, and somehow justify it. Collateral damage, we say. Tough luck!